Gridlock on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway as schools resume

Some road users on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway on Monday raised alarm over the gridlock caused by road construction projects as schools resumed from the Yuletide break.

The road users, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), appealed to the Lagos State Government to adopt measures to reduce hardship on the expressway.

A NAN correspondent, who took a trip on the highway, reports that several commuters were stranded at various bus-stops on the highway as commercial vehicles were trapped in gridlock.

An engineer and resident of Shasha, Mr Dayo Ogunware, said that the inner roads were blocked due to the pressure on the highway caused by ongoing construction of the Abule-Egba flyover project in Agege.

Ogunware explained that the Agege axis serves as alternative routes to vehicles from Sango Ota and its environs.

He appealed to the Lagos State Government to ensure the project was speedily executed to reduce the hardship faced by road users.

“It was difficult to get vehicle this morning.

“Traffic diversion from Agege Pen Cinema inward Agege Motor Road toward Abeokuta Expressway as a result of the Abule Egba Flyover project is the cause of this problem.

“The state government ought to have completed the ongoing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane construction project on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway before embarking on the construction of the Abule Egba flyover.

“The completion of the BRT lane would have contained the traffic diversion from Pen Cinema,” he said.

A civil servant, Mrs Tade Olukoya, told NAN that she spent hours on the road because of the gridlock and blamed the state government for poor planning.

“We know government is working for our good but they should consider the stress we go through and plan better.

“They should create alternatives for us, the whole of this area is locked down because government wants to construct many roads at the same time,” she said.

However, Mr Tomi Olarenwaju, a businessman said that the hardship was the price to pay for development.

“The BRT lane when completed would eliminate traffic on this expressway, same for the flyover in Agege, I think we need to be a bit patient,” he told NAN.

A school teacher, Mrs Herrieta Uzorigwe, blamed the gridlock on resumption of workers from the holiday and first day of resumption for schools.

Uzorigwe, however, called for urgent measures to tackle the gridlock to reduce hardship on the highway.

Mallam Abubakar Tukur, a tea vendor, appealed for speedy completion of both the Abule Egba flyover and BRT lane construction to ease the gridlock.